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What We Did For A Week In California

10 Aug What We Did For A Week In California

What We Did for A Week in California

We were so excited to finally meet face-to-face with our California clients! We had been doing work for some of them for quite awhile, while some we had never met. The trip included 13 hour work days, lighting and media storage challenges, but also a lot of fun with our new acquaintances, time spent coaching and encouraging them to further their reach in business and ministry.

Client: Joy & Hope Restored

10 Week Video Curriculum

The first 2 days were spent with Sarah Byrant of Joy & Hope Restored Ministries. We videoed her entire 10 week curriculum on Living In Freedom. She had an audience join her for some of the videos, while others she shot alone.

Biggest challenge:
Lighting. The home we shot the videos in was absolutely beautiful, but offered only natural light. We had to be creative with when and how we shot the videos to make sure we had adequate lighting.

Biggest success:
We used a new format for a testimonial video. We can’t wait to see how that turns out!

Client: Stepping Into His Image

Indoor & Outdoor Workout Videos & Group Testimonies

The next day was spent at the park with Stacey & Erika of Stepping Into His Image. Stepping Into His Image, or siHi, helps people move toward joy and restoration through a journey of spiritual and physical fitness. They already have the curriculum printed, but wanted to add workout videos so their digital product would be complete. These girls were great! Such a pleasure to spend the day with them in the nice 80 degree California weather.

Biggest Challenge:
Cars, Planes & Sunburns. The park was right next to a large apartment complex that had plenty of Fedex and UPS deliveries that day. We were also close to the airport so the planes wanted to chime in as well. Relieved to be away from the 100 degree, humid days of Oklahoma, we weren’t thinking too much about the effects of the sun. The cool breeze was deceiving and Jamon ended up with bright legs while hiding the boom mic, oops!

Biggest Success:
It was so rewarding to see the hard work from these ladies pay off. They were completely prepared and ready to dive in. By the end of the day, they were relaxed and conversational with the camera, that is a success!

That evening members of siHi were asked to give a group testimony as to their journey through the program. Barb, one of the recent members of the program welcomed us into her home. She might have changed her mind after she realized the mess we were going to make! Because of lighting, we ending up moving all of her furniture, more than once. The couch ended up in the entryway, TV taken apart and kitchen decorations moved to the hallway. Barb is photographer so I went to every room of her house to gather pictures that would work for the background of the videos. Her work is amazing by the way!

Client: Ed Bryant

Testimonial Video

We did some video work for another one of our clients, Ed & Jan Bryant. They weren’t just clients, but quickly became friends. They so graciously hosted us in their home for the duration of the trip. We woke up to breakfast every morning and dinner every night, even when our arrival for dinner wasn’t until 11:30pm! His photo location was by far the most beautiful, but definitely the most interesting.

Biggest Challenge:
Construction sites & Coyotes. Yes, I said coyotes. Because of the construction happening for the new homes in the area, the wolves were apparently being ran out of their natural habitat. In the middle of a shoot, a coyote ran out from nowhere and was 10 feet behind Ed. That was one of two appearances that coyote made that day. Our testimony shoot with Ed temporarily turned into a National Geographic scene where all eyes were on the wildlife!

Biggest Success:
Their hospitality was over and above what we could have ever expected. They took such wonderful care of us offering everything from food to sunscreen for our time there.

Some other lessons we learned on our first on-site video shoot-

We needed more time to upload and preview video before continuing to the next location.

First thing we look for when we entered a building: electrical outlets. We always had batteries or equipment that needed to be charged.

A gimbal is a cool gadget, but was too much work for such an intense trip.

More down time for us will be a necessity next time. If it wasn’t for our hosts, we would have been running on coffee and fumes for the entire trip. A well-rested team is sharper than a run down one.

No matter how great your audio equipment is, you will never be able to plan for all the interferences you will encounter.

Would we do it again?

The answer is a resounding YES. What overwhelming overshadowed all the technical challenges of the work was the time we spent pouring into the visions and dreams of the people we worked with. To inspire and encourage these individuals is what McWilliams Media is all about. Yes, build websites, create great designs and can work your social media like a champ, but ultimately what we are all about is the dream behind all the work. We are about the client and doing whatever we can to help launch their business or ministry dream.